Ok - here’s the backstory: Brian Ritchie and the Violent Femmes are the reason started playing bass, and later, got into guitar-making. When I heard the sound of Brian’s Earthwood Acoustic Bass Guitar (ABG) back in college I knew right away that that was the sound I wanted to make. I got a cheap Applause (budget Ovation) ABG and started learning as much as I could, mostly by playing along with Femmes records.

By the time I started to get good, I started to get frustrated with the puny sound of my instrument. I did some research and found that Ernie Ball had stopped making the Earthwood ABG years ago, and that there weren’t any good ones on the market any more. At the time, Martin and Guild made the best ones, and they still weren’t nearly as big or loud as I knew they could be. I even remember sending a snotty letter to C.F. Martin telling them how gutless their bass was… hopefully he’s forgotten by now.

So in ‘97 I enrolled in the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix to learn how to build guitars. Before I went, though, I did a few experiments with washtub basses, one of which I showed to Brian Ritchie after a show in Tempe. Go ahead and laugh, but it sounded pretty good!

I only stopped playing it when I graduated from RV and became a “serious” luthier. It was working at RV that I built my Big Red ABG.

Fast forward to last year. From Roberto-Venn I had gotten a job as in-house programmer/designer/luthier at Warmoth Guitar Products, and one day got an email at work from Brian Ritchie! He had just ordered a bass from us and saw a post of mine about him on Talkbass. He asked how his bass was coming along and if he could stop by the shop when the band was in Seattle. I offered to give him a tour, and he offered to let me play bass on “Gone Daddy Gone” at their show! So far, it has been the highlight of my career!

See all the pictures from my encounter with BR in the new photo album.

Now off to order material for the new run of ABG’s…

Posted by Brian Goode on Tuesday, June 6th, 2006 at 7:12 am.